'The whole world tour has been a spectacular success': ITB agent Rod MacSween on Guns N'Roses' live prowess

'The whole world tour has been a spectacular success': ITB agent Rod MacSween on Guns N'Roses' live prowess

Guns N'Roses international booking agent has hailed the "spectacular success" of the band's Not In This Lifetime... world tour, ahead of their headline performance at this weekend's Download Festival.

Beginning in April 2016 the tour, which reunited original members Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan, was the second highest grossing of 2017 and has become the fourth highest grossing of all-time, generating $480.9 million (£363m) from 125 shows to date, according to Pollstar.

It stopped off in the UK for two sold-out nights at London Stadium last June and returns to Donington Park this Saturday, where an incarnation of GNR fronted by Rose previously topped the bill in 2006. 

Speaking in the new issue of Music Week, which is dedicated to all things rock, ITB's Rod MacSween said: "The whole world tour has been a spectacular success. Some highlights were the two sold out Olympic Stadium shows in London last year, playing the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Australia and the passionate crowds in South America."

MacSween, who guides the band's live career outside North America, described public demand to see the reformed line-up as "voracious", adding: "The strategy has been to route with care, to play some new markets and always plan ahead."

On what to expect from their Download slot, MacSween said: "The highest level of entertainment. Go see them to find out!"

GNR's US agent, UTA's Ken Fermaglich, added: "The single most important overarching strategy for us has been doing whatever we can to ensure that people understand this is not a legacy act, it is a vibrant band that is contemporary to lots of other bands right now."

Click here or see the new edition of Music Week to read the full inside story of Guns N'Roses monster reunion tour. You can also read all about their Appetite For Destruction Locked N'Loaded box set here



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